Black helicopter sighting: Limbaugh warns that "national healthcare ... is the entrée to controlling every aspect of your life"
May 13, 2009 2:10 pm ET
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Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
The Friday Rush: A series of conflicts
Contrary to media hype, Sarah Palin is very unpopular
Dr. Keith Martin, Special to The Windsor Star
Published: Monday, April 27, 2009
Contrary to public opinion, Canada does not have "the best health care system in the world." We actually rank 26th, and yet have the fifth highest expenditures for health care.
When Europeans hear that Canadians tolerate atrocious waiting lists of nine to 12 months or more for care, and endure the pain, suffering and loss of function that accompanies these wait times, they are shocked.
These word leaders share some common traits: They all have mixed systems that combine both public and private providers; everyone is covered; no one is hurt financially when they fall ill, and there is the widespread use of information technology, which improves efficiency and reduces errors and cost.
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Just what Obama is calling for here.
But even Canada's system is better than the USA's, and less expensive than the USA's too!
He seemed to have forgotten that the righty talking point is to demonize the European system, not frame it as superior to the Canadian system,which is better than ours (that is, if you believe an actual Canadian over somebody linking to a Canadian paper slamming their system).
However, citing a doctor doesn't help him because doctors could easily make more money in a non-universal healthcare system. That shouldn't be taken to mean that they don't make enough money (the family doctor I had til i was about 15 or so drove a nice big shiny black mercedes). The way I understand it, doctors get paid according to the effort they put into the system. If they take on lots of patients, they get more money. If they perform more procedures, they get more money. By de-nationalizing the system, doctors would be able to charge substantially higher fees. So citing a doctor's opinion about the state of the healthcare system in Canada risks citing a biased opinion.
Finally, we're going off topic. Rush was saying thst national healthcare is the next step to social control. Unless you're a doctor, he's completely wrong. And even then, it's not social control: if anything, I'd say it's providing the user (patients) with more power over the system (doctors).
How does a helmet and/or seat belt adversely effect your life and infringe on your freedoms?
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves." William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington
The idea behind laws is that they are created solely 'for your own good' in democratic societies. If you're breaking the law, then you're doing something that's either not good for you (drunk driving, for example) or not good for society (let's go with a big one like treason).
Laws are not created for the simple purpose of restricting your freedoms. They are created to maximize the freedoms you, and everyone else around you, can experience in a society. This is all based on the social contract. Read Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau.
"In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."
- Thomas Jefferson
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- Benjamin Franklin
Laws that allowed someone to own someone else? Wrong laws.
Laws that stop people from forcing me to pay for their stupidity when they fail to wear a helmet or use a seatbelt? Great laws, totally appropriate in our society. Give ME the freedom to not pay for YOUR stupidity. Don't take away my freedom, and force me to pay for your stupidity!!!!!
Maybe you would prefer Somalia... I understand that it's a Libertarian utopia over there.
You have the freedom to do what you want until you start infringing on the rights of others. When you fail to use a seatbelt or a helmet, you infringe upon the rights of other people to not have to pay for your stupidity!! It's not for your own good. In Texas, if you can prove you have insurance so that if you crack your head open because you were too stubborn to wear a helmet, your insurance pays for your care, you can ride without a helmet!
There's a part of this clip that boils down to its essence what it takes to be a dittohead. Rush lays out his slippery slope regarding the swingset and the tv on the wall, a bunch of wild silly speculation based on his own paranoia. And he follows this ridiculous fantasy with (and I quote):
"I'm not making this up !"
When, of course, he's completely making it up.But he only has to tell his monkeys that his delusions are fact, and they'll be furiously creating mass emails based on the BS.
Thus, the most effective method to minimizing government interference in your life is practicing birth control.
Rush is lucky to have such a big a$$... he can pull a lot of material for his show out of it.
What a minute.... isn't that what Rush thinks are good ideaa? Aren't those the things he keeps blathering on about?
Which way is it Rush? Government deciding for us or the freedom to choose what we want? I think we exerciesed that freedom in november and decided that we didn't wnat you right wing nut bars running things.
What a minute.... isn't that what Rush thinks are good ideaa? Aren't those the things he keeps blathering on about?
Which way is it Rush? Government deciding for us or the freedom to choose what we want? I think we exerciesed that freedom in november and decided that we didn't wnat you right wing nut bars running things.